Rescue Dog and Hopes of a Miracle Captivate Ravaged Beirut

A search squad from Chile and its dog Flash discovered what appeared to be a heartbeat underneath debris from the Aug. 4 port blast.VideoWorkers in Beirut are sifting through debris caused by a deadly explosion in August after a sensor detected a slow pulse that could be a heartbeat.CreditCredit…Hussein Malla/Associated PressSept. 4, 2020Updated 1:37 p.m. ETBEIRUT, Lebanon — The sudden glimmer of hope in a devastated Beirut neighborhood came from a dog named Flash with a shaggy black coat, a white snout and red bootees to protect his paws from shattered glass.One month after a massive explosion in Beirut’s port killed 190 people and ravaged the Lebanese capital, the dog smelled something in the rubble of a destroyed historic building, and a technician working with a Chilean rescue team deployed a sensor that picked up a slow pulse underneath that could have been a heartbeat.In the hours since the dog’s discovery Thursday evening, the Lebanese have been glued to their televisions, watching live coverage of rescue crews in yellow vests sifting through debris and wondering if, after a string of bruising traumas, they dared hope for a miracle.Had someone survived under the rubble all this time?But by Friday evening, the rescue crews had yet to find anything with a pulse, and the leader of the Chilean team declined to tell reporters when it had last picked up any sign of possible life.The Aug. 4 explosion, caused by the combustion of thousands of tons of hazardous chemicals stored improperly in the Beirut port since 2014, was the most recent in a series
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